Thursday, 31 December 2015

An
Elite Eight of us ignored waking up to rain, an early start and the threat of
muddiness to enjoy a walk from Loxwood, just in Sussex, over the county
boundary into Alford, in Surrey, and back. The early part of the walk took us
through a variety of fields with pleasing longish views, then to our tea stop
in Alford, through more fields with an equine feel (also some turnips) and
then, for the final third of the 5.6 mile walk, along the towpath of the Wey
and Arun canal. Fairly flat and easy, the walk was in fact less muddy than when
we recce’d it a couple of weeks ago, and we suffered no more than three drops
of rain all morning. I forgot to take a group photo, so here’s a not very good
one of a tree en-route instead.

The
whole group (when did that last happen?) then had a good lunch at the Sir Roger
Tichborne, about a mile up the road from where we had walked. The roasts were
particularly generous and fine.

Tuesday, 24 November 2015

The countryside was shrouded in fog first thing on Sunday
morning, visibility at its worst which might explain the small turnout of
walkers. As luck would have it by 10:00 the fog lifted and the sun shone,
in fact a perfect autumnal day.

The 6 1/2 mile walk began in the hamlet of Friday Street on
the gentle lower north slope of Leith Hill. Heading off towards
Coldharbour taking in water meadows, sandy tracks and mature woodland.
Spurred on by the promise of superb views and coffee ... probably coffee being
the main incentive we climbed uphill to Leith Hill Tower, it was well
worth the effort!

With the hilly section of the walk behind us the route led
us back to the starting point via Abinger Bottom and finally, The Stefan
Langton pub where a few of us stopped for lunch.

Monday, 26 October 2015

One thing I have really enjoyed about the last 3 months of
walking has been the number of new areas or routes I have been introduced to,
and last Sunday’s walk led by Chris Partridge did not disappoint. However given
the location in the heart of our regular walking area this is quite a surprise.

Chris’s walk started from Clandon House carpark; it was sad
to see the mansion shrouded in polythene after the fire, but it did mean we had
plentiful free parking!

At the far point of the walk we popped out at the familiar
territory of Newlands corner (and the coffee shop J), but the walk there and back through pretty and varied
countryside was an enjoyable new route to nearly everyone on the walk – thanks
Chris!

8 people enjoyed a good lunch at the Bull’s Head, but
pre-booking was certainly essential.

Saturday, 24 October 2015

Thank you to Godalming and Hazelmere stalwarts Peter and
Sheila (but also occasional SWSW walkers and holiday makers) for introducing /
reminding us of the fantastic walking to be had if we travel just 10 or 15
minutes further. We enjoyed a lovely walk through Surrey and Sussex heathland
over Black Down near Hazelmere, had some National Trust history at the ‘Temple
of the Winds’, and some glorious though hazy views. The photo’s don’t really do
them justice.

This is an area we should explore again, a lot of beautiful
countryside to enjoy!

Sunday, 4 October 2015

We were very lucky on our last walk to have glorious weather
which meant we got the best of the lovely views from the North Downs. Most of
us had walked from the Wooten Hatch near Dorking before, but Jenny surprised us
with a new route over paths we had not used before. There were enough hills to
build up an appetite so lunch in the Pub garden was a good finish to the
morning.

Gathering by the monument to Bishop Samuel Wilberforce, who died after falling from his horse on 19 July 1873

Friday, 11 September 2015

Thanks Sue for a
really lovely walk in welcome September sunshine – a great relief after all the
recent bad weather. A lovely route, threading its way round the lake and through the gardens in Windsor Great park, with the bonus of a
coffee stall half way round. We have seen the azaleas and rhododendrons in the
park before, but it was great to walk in the park in a different season and see the
heather and hydrangeas at their best.

Sunday, 23 August 2015

This walk was lead by Janet and Lynne, starting at The Cricketer's Pub. 13 walkers congregated at the pub, and set off to Pirbright
church, where we stopped to look at the grave of Stanley, the reporter to found Gr Livingstone. We proceeded along canal under the station in
Brookwood to the cemetery. We strolled in a leisurely way around the cemetery, stopping for a break at the
American chapel which was open. Then we continued over Pirbright common
and woods back to the pub, where 5 of us had an enjoyable lunch together.

Sunday, 2 August 2015

This walk was lead by Margo and John. 14 of us set off, joined by 2 tail-enders who between them
remembered the walk description and had a bit of local knowledge, and managed
to catch us up. We had a very pleasant walk south of the Chantries, with views
up to St Martha’s from a different direction. We had a good arial display from
a Buzzard, and managed to find a few paths that were new to even regular SWSW
walkers.

This was followed by a relaxed (i.e. slow…) lunch at the
Parrot in Shalford, but nice to enjoy the sunny garden.

Sunday, 12 July 2015

Thanks a lot to Keith for his
walk with a theme last Sunday. We discovered that HG Wells accurately used the
geography and road and rail network of Woking and Horsell as the setting for
‘The War of the Worlds’, and the novel describes junctions, canals and railways
and bridges in the sites we can still see today.

We followed a route from the
Martians landing site on Horsell Common to town and back, passing some landmark
sites described in the book, and the Martian sculpture in the town centre. We
also saw the restored 1st World War Muslim cemetery on the common, which has
been transformed from an overgrown collapsing building into a beautiful restful
garden with a lovely water feature. Inexplicably the entrance is boarded up!

We were joined by new walker
Ian, a Horsell resident who used his local knowledge to add an interesting end
to the route through woods and local paths back to the starting point.
The forecast was awful but thankfully it turned out to be perfect walking
weather.